Fulfill Your ‘Star Wars Destiny’ With the New Two-Player Game

What Is Star Wars Destiny Two-Player Game?

The Star Wars Destiny Two-Player Game is a new Star Wars Destiny starter set designed to allow a fully playable game from a single box. The main characters featured are Rey and Poe on the hero team, and Kylo Ren and Captain Phasma on the villain team.

The content of the two-player set differs from the Rey and Kylo Ren single player starter decks which were previously available. Only two cards appear both in the two-player single box game and the single player starter decks.

Star Wars Destiny Two-Player Game Components:

48 Cards

16 Dice

16 Resource Tokens

15 Shield Tokens

16 Single Hit Point Tokens

14 Three Hit Point Tokens

Instructions

How to Play Star Wars Destiny Two-Player Game

Star Wars: Destiny is a two-player collectible card game in which players take on the roles of heroes and villains from the Star Wars saga and battle against one another. This how-to-play guide assumes you are playing with only the content of the two-player starter box and no expansions.

Rey and Poe Ready To Begin a Game, Image: Sophie Brown

Setup

Players begin by choosing to play as either the heroes or the villains. The two character cards from each side and their respective dice are placed in front of the player—Rey and Poe for the heroes, Kylo and Phasma for the villains. All other dice are set aside for use later in the game. The two battlefield cards and reference cards are also set aside, and the remainder of each player’s hand is shuffled to form a deck from which five cards are drawn to form a hand. Each player gains two resource tokens from the main pile.

Both players then roll their character dice and add up the values shown to determine who goes first. The player with the highest total gets to choose on which battlefield card the game takes place (the other is put away for the remainder of the game). The player whose battlefield card is not chosen takes two shield tokens and places them as they wish on their characters.

The game then proceeds through series of rounds broken up into two phases, Action and Upkeep.

Action Phase

Players take turns performing one action from six different options until both players pass consecutively.

Play a Card From Your Hand – This allows you to play an event card and follow the instructions written on it, attach an upgrade to an existing character (up to a maximum of three), or add a supporting character to the table. Cards have a cost in resources which must be paid from your supply of resource tokens in order to use them, this cost is noted in the top left corner of the card.

Ready a Character or Support – This action allows you to roll all the dice associated with that character, the original character dice plus any upgrades you have attached. The card is “exhausted” by being turned 90 degrees and the rolled dice are added to your dice pool where they wait to be resolved in subsequent actions.

Rey with Multiple Upgrades and 10 Damage Tokens in the Process of Being Readied, Exhausted Poe with Maximum Shields, and an Exhausted Support Card, Image: Sophie Brown

Resolve Your Dice – This action allows you to use the dice in your dice pool. All dice of matching symbols can be resolved together. Effects from dice include ranged and melee damage to opposing characters, attaching shields to characters, gaining resource tokens or removing them from your opponent, forcing your opponent to discard cards, focusing other dice in your pool to a side of your choice, or using a character’s special ability. Dice also have blank sides which have no effect when rolled.

Ranged and melee damage effects cause damage to your opponent’s characters. All, characters have a health value noted in red in the top right corner of their card. Once they take damage equal to that value, the character is defeated and removed from the game along with any upgrades attached to them (upgrades with the keyword “redeploy” on their card may be attached to another character if the character they are currently attached to is defeated).

Discard a Card to Re-Roll Your Dice – Allows you to re-roll dice in your dice pool by discarding a card from your hand.

Use a Card Action – Allows you to use the special actions noted on some support, upgrade, and character cards.

Claim the Battlefield – This allows you to use the special “claim” ability noted on the battlefield card. This can only be done once per round, and the player who claimed the battlefield automatically passes all future turns during that round, allowing their opponent to take as many actions as they wish until they also pass. The round then moves to the next phase.

Upkeep Phase

Once both players have passed consecutively and assuming both players have at least one character still undefeated, the round enters the upkeep phase where each player performs three tasks.

Exhausted cards are rotated back to their original position and all dice remaining in the dice pool are returned to their matching cards.

Both players gain two resource tokens.

Both players may discard as many cards as they wish from their hand, then draw back up to five cards.

The player in control of the battlefield then begins the next round with another action phase.

Winning the Game

You can win Star Wars Destiny either by defeating both your opponent’s characters before they defeat yours or if your opponent has no cards in their hand and deck after an upkeep phase. If both players would win this way, the winner is whoever is currently in control of the battlefield.

Why Should You Play Star Wars Destiny?

My gaming “group” usually consists of two people: myself and my husband, or myself and my eight-year-old son; this means that we’re always on the lookout for games that work well with just two players. Games like Star Wars Destiny, which is designed specifically for two players, are perfect for us.

I had initially held off buying into Star Wars Destiny because of the multiple starter kits needed for two people to play together, so the arrival of this dedicated two-player set was ideal for me. Something about having to buy two different sets just to play against my husband was off-putting to me when faced with the boxes in a store. It is also worth noting that, at the time of writing, it is significantly cheaper to buy the two-player box than two separate starter packs, although the prices do fluctuate significantly and make the reverse true at times, so it worth comparing options before purchasing. One thing I found myself unimpressed by with the game was the box itself which doesn’t offer good storage and, despite its size, doesn’t allow for more than two expansion packs to be stored in the tray, which is a shame given how much empty space there is inside.

Personally, I fell in love with Star Wars Destiny as soon as I opened the box, which is probably a bad thing given the number of booster packs and expansions available (look out for the new Legacies starter sets—Boba Fett and Luke Skywalker—and boosters available from January 31st). The artwork is beautiful and the game is easy to learn. The age recommendation for Star Wars Destiny is 10 and up, but with some help at the beginning, my eight-year-old was able to play by himself. One caveat here is that regardless of age, your child will need to be a confident reader in order to play. Every card features writing which explains its abilities and powers as well as card types, etc.—all of which is vital to gameplay. To be able to play successfully, kids will need to be able to read and understand the instructions on each card in order to figure out how best to apply them.

This is a really fun game which will appeal to Star Wars fans of every era and is perfect for couples who enjoy gaming together. It may not appeal to those who are sticklers for accuracy and who may be annoyed at the non-canonical aspect of Qui-Gon Jinn helping out Rey or Poe Dameron facing off against Count Dooku. It is also important to note that while the game can be played with only the content of the two-player box, the temptation to begin collecting expansions is enormous, so this may not be an ideal gift for those on a budget, or for friends who you know have little self-restraint when faced with the word “collectable.”

All things considered, I loved Star Wars Destiny and am hoping to find some booster packs in my stocking on Christmas morning.

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